Thursday, July 25, 2019

Colorado Executive Order To Fight Anti-Vax Movement With A Powerful New Weapon

A new executive order will fight the growing anti-vax problem in Colorado at its true source: ignorance. Gov. Jared Polis recently signed a new executive order to promote vaccination education in the state. That puts him at odds with other politicians, who have tried to address falling vaccination rates with legislation, and with very mixed results.

More and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children, and the anti-vax movement literally puts lives at risk. And while data shows that measles-related deaths decreased by 79% between 2000 and 2014 due to vaccines, there is still a lot of controversy surrounding whether or not vaccines actually work. In Colorado, the number of vaccinated children dropped again this year, keeping the state within the bottom national rankings for childhood immunization. And in an effort to increase these numbers, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is trying something new. His executive order will give parents more information in the hopes that they will embrace voluntary vaccination.

But this step isn't like other executive orders and laws passed around the country, which typically either give parents the right to not vaccinate their kids or instead compel them to vaccinate. Instead, this new executive order will improve education on vaccines within the state in hopes that more parents will make the choice to vaccinate on their own.

Under the new executive order, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will study the cause of low immunization rates in the state, educate people on vaccines, and find new ways to boost vaccine rates.

Furthermore, the order seeks to make the process easier for parents. The CDPHE will look at the effectiveness of mobile vaccine services, local immunization drives, and school clinics. The main goal is to understand why parents are so hesitant to vaccinate children and figure out ways to better educate them.

Gov. Jared Polis wants to take Colorado in a different direction from other states. While there are laws in place to protect children from parental harm, like how hospitals and other authorities have the legal authority to remove a child from their parents for up to 96 hours without a court order, Polis doesn't want to force vaccines on parents by making new laws.

Polis explained, “I’m pro-choice. I think it’s your body and it’s your decision... We really view this as the third way between the government forcing people to get shots, which is counterproductive, and simply allowing these rates to go down, which is counterproductive to public health and will result in people dying."

New data from the Colorado Department of Public Health showed immunization rates for four key vaccinations dropped this past school year: Measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations decreased from 88.7% of 87.4%, Hepatitis B vaccinations decreased from 92.1% to 90.8%, Chickenpox vaccinations decreased from 87.7% to 86.5% and Polio vaccinations decreased from 88.6% to 87.2%. Despite the fact that it can take up to 15 years, or more, to develop a vaccine correctly, people still don't want to vaccinate their children.

Rep. Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, tried to do something similar to California and New York, where lawmakers have pushed more aggressive legislation to increase vaccination rates. However, Mullica was met with opposition from Polis. Mullica's proposed bill didn't pass through the Senate, but Polis did include some of the ideas in the new executive order.

“I think it really hits home that keeping the status quo isn’t working and is putting our kids at great risk,” explained Mullica. “It’s a good first step. What I am encouraged about is to see more resources going to the issue. Do I think that’s going to solve the problem? I don’t know.”